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Overview

DishInk Inventory tracks every raw material from delivery to plate. Ingredients are linked to menu items through recipes and to modifiers through modifier links, so every sale automatically deducts the exact quantity used. Managers see live stock, food-cost bands, and low-stock alerts across every branch.
Inventory workspace with the seven tabs

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The seven tabs

Ingredients

Central library of raw materials with unit, category, min/max, ZMW unit cost.

Stock Levels

Live quantity per branch. Restock modal with live preview.

Recipes

Link ingredients to menu items. Servings-left badge, food-cost card.

Modifiers

Link ingredients to modifier options. Three views for setup and audit.

Adjustments

Immutable log of every restock, waste, damage, manual, or auto-deduction.

Low Stock

Severity bands, bulk restock actions.

Settings

Auto-unavailability, min servings, override policy, badge thresholds.

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How auto-deduction works

1

A menu item is sold at the POS

Any channel: dine-in, takeaway, WhatsApp, online, QR menu.
2

Recipe lookup

DishInk reads the recipe and multiplies each ingredient quantity by the sold quantity.
3

Modifier lookup

Every modifier attached to the order line adds its linked ingredient deductions (respecting deduct_quantity).
4

Stock decremented

Ingredient stock drops. An auto_deduction row is written to Adjustments.
5

Servings-left recalculated

Menu badge updates. If below the threshold, the item shows a badge on the POS.
6

Auto-unavailability (optional)

If enabled and servings hits the min-servings threshold, the item becomes unavailable until stock recovers.
Recipes flagged ignore_stock bypass deduction — useful for items you don’t want to track (e.g. water, complimentary bread).

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Food-cost bands

Every recipe shows a food-cost percentage: (ingredient_cost / selling_price) × 100.

Healthy

Under 30%. Comfortable margin.

Warning

30–40%. Review pricing or portion sizes.

Critical

Above 40%. Losing money — act now.

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Tips

  • Set min stock on every ingredient during onboarding so alerts work from day one.
  • Review the Critical food-cost band weekly — usually the fastest margin lift available.
  • Use auto-unavailability for high-turnover items (chicken wings, ribs) so you never sell what you can’t serve.
  • Take a monthly full stock count with the Adjustments tab, using reason code manual.

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Common mistakes

  • No recipes. Menu items with no recipe don’t deduct — stock stays at 999 forever.
  • Wrong unit. Recipe says 200g flour but ingredient is stored in kg — always match units.
  • Skipping modifiers. Extra cheese without a modifier link doesn’t deduct cheese stock.
  • Ignoring the food-cost card. Critical items compound losses — catch them early.
Last modified on July 20, 2026